1. Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to item suggestions and more specifically to generating suggestions for videos based on features of the videos.
2. Description of the Related Art
The sharing of video content on websites has developed into a worldwide phenomenon, supported by dozens of websites. On average, over 10,000 videos are posted every day, and this number is increasing as the tools and opportunities for capturing video become easier to use and more widespread. Millions of people watch the posted videos.
Operators of video sharing websites have a general desire to improve the experiences of the viewers of the shared videos. For example, the viewer experience can be improved by providing the viewer with suggestions for videos the viewer might find interesting. Such suggestions can be provided while a current video is playing and/or upon completion of a played video.
Currently, suggestions are generated based on a variety of techniques that seek to identify related videos. One such technique is to assume that videos watched by a user in response to a search query are related. If a user submits a query for videos matching specific criteria, the videos the user selects and watches from the search results can be treated as related. Similarly, videos watched by a user during a given time interval can be treated as related. Another technique for generating suggestions is examining metadata associated with the videos, such as tags specified by the videos' providers. Videos with similar metadata are treated as related. Another similar technique is to identify the vertical categories associated with the videos (e.g., “Sports|Soccer”) and to treat videos within the same vertical category as related. Videos that are related to a watched video are provided as suggestions.
The techniques described above work well, but are not ideal. One problem that can occur is that videos watched together can become tightly clustered. Videos that are suggested together tend to become watched together, which can result in a feedback loop that causes a cluster of related videos to always be suggested together. It would be better to provide a broader set of suggested videos.